Packing chromatic number versus chromatic and clique number

The packing chromatic number \(\chi _{\rho }(G)\) of a graph G is the smallest integer k such that the vertex set of G can be partitioned into sets \(V_i\), \(i\in [k]\), where each \(V_i\) is an i-packing. In this paper, we investigate for a given triple (a, b, c) of positive integers whether there exists a graph G such that \(\omega (G) = a\), \(\chi (G) = b\), and \(\chi _{\rho }(G) = c\). If so, we say that (a, b, c) is realizable. It is proved that \(b=c\ge 3\) implies \(a=b\), and that triples \((2,k,k+1)\) and \((2,k,k+2)\) are not realizable as soon as \(k\ge 4\). Some of the obtained results are deduced from the bounds proved on the packing chromatic number of the Mycielskian. Moreover, a formula for the independence number of the Mycielskian is given. A lower bound on \(\chi _{\rho }(G)\) in terms of \(\Delta (G)\) and \(\alpha (G)\) is also proved.     

The Best Mixing Time for Random Walks on Trees

We characterize the extremal structures for mixing walks on trees that start from the most advantageous vertex. Let \(G=(V,E)\) be a tree with stationary distribution \(\pi \). For a vertex \(v \in V\), let \(H(v,\pi )\) denote the expected length of an optimal stopping rule from v to \(\pi \). The best mixing time for G is \(\min _{v \in V} H(v,\pi )\). We show that among all trees with \(|V|=n\), the best mixing time is minimized uniquely by the star. For even n, the best mixing time is maximized by the uniquely path. Surprising, for odd n, the best mixing time is maximized uniquely by a path of length \(n-1\) with a single leaf adjacent to one central vertex.     

On the eigenvalues and spectral radius of starlike trees

Let \(k\ge 1\) and \(n_1,\ldots ,n_k\ge 1\) be some integers. Let \(S(n_1,\ldots ,n_k)\) be a tree T such that T has a vertex v of degree k and \(T{\setminus } v\) is the disjoint union of the paths \(P_{n_1},\ldots ,P_{n_k}\), that is \(T{\setminus } v\cong P_{n_1}\cup \cdots \cup P_{n_k}\) so that every neighbor of v in T has degree one or two. The tree \(S(n_1,\ldots ,n_k)\) is called starlike tree, a tree with exactly one vertex of degree greater than two, if \(k\ge 3\). In this paper we obtain the eigenvalues of starlike trees. We find some bounds for the largest eigenvalue (for the spectral radius) of starlike trees. In particular we prove that if \(k\ge 4\) and \(n_1,\ldots ,n_k\ge 2\), then \(\frac{k-1}{\sqrt{k-2}}<\lambda _1(S(n_1,\ldots ,n_k))<\frac{k}{\sqrt{k-1}}\), where \(\lambda _1(T)\) is the largest eigenvalue of T. Finally we characterize all starlike trees that all of whose eigenvalues are in the interval \((-2,2)\).     

A generalization of zero divisor graphs associated to commutative rings

Let R be a commutative ring with a nonzero identity element. For a natural number n, we associate a simple graph, denoted by \(\Gamma ^n_R\), with \(R^n\backslash \{0\}\) as the vertex set and two distinct vertices X and Y in \(R^n\) being adjacent if and only if there exists an \(n\times n\) lower triangular matrix A over R whose entries on the main diagonal are nonzero and one of the entries on the main diagonal is regular such that \(X^TAY=0\) or \(Y^TAX=0\), where, for a matrix \(B, B^T\) is the matrix transpose of B. If \(n=1\), then \(\Gamma ^n_R\) is isomorphic to the zero divisor graph \(\Gamma (R)\), and so \(\Gamma ^n_R\) is a generalization of \(\Gamma (R)\) which is called a generalized zero divisor graph of R. In this paper, we study some basic properties of \(\Gamma ^n_ R\). We also determine all isomorphic classes of finite commutative rings whose generalized zero divisor graphs have genus at most three.     

Lengths of words in transformation semigroups generated by digraphs

Given a simple digraph D on n vertices (with \(n\ge 2\)), there is a natural construction of a semigroup of transformations \(\langle D\rangle \). For any edge (a, b) of D, let \(a\rightarrow b\) be the idempotent of rank \(n-1\) mapping a to b and fixing all vertices other than a; then, define \(\langle D\rangle \) to be the semigroup generated by \(a \rightarrow b\) for all \((a,b) \in E(D)\). For \(\alpha \in \langle D\rangle \), let \(\ell (D,\alpha )\) be the minimal length of a word in E(D) expressing \(\alpha \). It is well known that the semigroup \(\mathrm {Sing}_n\) of all transformations of rank at most \(n-1\) is generated by its idempotents of rank \(n-1\). When \(D=K_n\) is the complete undirected graph, Howie and Iwahori, independently, obtained a formula to calculate \(\ell (K_n,\alpha )\), for any \(\alpha \in \langle K_n\rangle = \mathrm {Sing}_n\); however, no analogous non-trivial results are known when \(D \ne K_n\). In this paper, we characterise all simple digraphs D such that either \(\ell (D,\alpha )\) is equal to Howie–Iwahori’s formula for all \(\alpha \in \langle D\rangle \), or \(\ell (D,\alpha ) = n - \mathrm {fix}(\alpha )\) for all \(\alpha \in \langle D\rangle \), or \(\ell (D,\alpha ) = n - \mathrm {rk}(\alpha )\) for all \(\alpha \in \langle D\rangle \). We also obtain bounds for \(\ell (D,\alpha )\) when D is an acyclic digraph or a strong tournament (the latter case corresponds to a smallest generating set of idempotents of rank \(n-1\) of \(\mathrm {Sing}_n\)). We finish the paper with a list of conjectures and open problems.     

The distortion dimension of $$\mathbb $$-rank 1 lattices

Let \(X=G/K\) be a symmetric space of noncompact type and rank \(k\ge 2\). We prove that horospheres in X are Lipschitz \((k-2)\)-connected if their centers are not contained in a proper join factor of the spherical building of X at infinity. As a consequence, the distortion dimension of an irreducible \(\mathbb {Q}\)-rank-1 lattice \(\Gamma \) in a linear, semisimple Lie group G of \(\mathbb R\)-rank k is \(k-1\). That is, given \(m< k-1\), a Lipschitz m-sphere S in (a polyhedral complex quasi-isometric to) \(\Gamma \), and a \((m+1)\)-ball B in X (or G) filling S, there is a \((m+1)\)-ball \(B'\) in \(\Gamma \) filling S such that \({{\mathrm{vol}}}B'\sim {{\mathrm{vol}}}B\). In particular, such arithmetic lattices satisfy Euclidean isoperimetric inequalities up to dimension \(k-1\).     

The non-abelian tensor square of residually finite groups

Let m, n be positive integers and p a prime. We denote by \(\nu (G)\) an extension of the non-abelian tensor square \(G \otimes G\) by \(G \times G\). We prove that if G is a residually finite group satisfying some non-trivial identity \(f \equiv ~1\) and for every \(x,y \in G\) there exists a p-power \(q=q(x,y)\) such that \([x,y^{\varphi }]^q = 1\), then the derived subgroup \(\nu (G)'\) is locally finite (Theorem A). Moreover, we show that if G is a residually finite group in which for every \(x,y \in G\) there exists a p-power \(q=q(x,y)\) dividing \(p^m\) such that \([x,y^{\varphi }]^q\) is left n-Engel, then the non-abelian tensor square \(G \otimes G\) is locally virtually nilpotent (Theorem B).     

Upper Bounds for the Paired-Domination Numbers of Graphs

A set \(S\subseteq V\) is a paired-dominating set if every vertex in \(V{\setminus } S\) has at least one neighbor in S and the subgraph induced by S contains a perfect matching. The paired-domination number of a graph G, denoted by \(\gamma _{pr}(G)\), is the minimum cardinality of a paired-dominating set of G. A conjecture of Goddard and Henning says that if G is not the Petersen graph and is a connected graph of order n with minimum degree \(\delta (G)\ge 3\), then \(\gamma _{pr}(G)\le 4n/7\). In this paper, we confirm this conjecture for k-regular graphs with \(k\ge 4\).     

On the density of images of the power maps in Lie groups

Let G be a connected Lie group. In this paper, we study the density of the images of individual power maps \(P_k:G\rightarrow G:g\mapsto g^k\). We give criteria for the density of \(P_k(G)\) in terms of regular elements, as well as Cartan subgroups. In fact, we prove that if \(\mathrm{Reg}(G)\) is the set of regular elements of G, then \(P_k(G)\cap \mathrm{Reg}(G)\) is closed in \(\mathrm{Reg}(G)\). On the other hand, the weak exponentiality of G turns out to be equivalent to the density of all the power maps \(P_k\). In linear Lie groups, weak exponentiality reduces to the density of \(P_2(G)\). We also prove that the density of the image of \(P_k\) for G implies the same for any connected full rank subgroup.     

On Star–Wheel Ramsey Numbers

For two given graphs \(G_1\) and \(G_2\), the Ramsey number \(R(G_1,G_2)\) is the least integer r such that for every graph G on r vertices, either G contains a \(G_1\) or \(\overline{G}\) contains a \(G_2\). In this note, we determined the Ramsey number \(R(K_{1,n},W_m)\) for even m with \(n+2\le m\le 2n-2\), where \(W_m\) is the wheel on \(m+1\) vertices, i.e., the graph obtained from a cycle \(C_m\) by adding a vertex v adjacent to all vertices of the \(C_m\).     

Sandwich semigroups in locally small categories I: foundations

Fix (not necessarily distinct) objects i and j of a locally small category S, and write \(S_{ij}\) for the set of all morphisms \(i\rightarrow j\). Fix a morphism \(a\in S_{ji}\), and define an operation \(\star _a\) on \(S_{ij}\) by \(x\star _ay=xay\) for all \(x,y\in S_{ij}\). Then \((S_{ij},\star _a)\) is a semigroup, known as a sandwich semigroup, and denoted by \(S_{ij}^a\). This article develops a general theory of sandwich semigroups in locally small categories. We begin with structural issues such as regularity, Green’s relations and stability, focusing on the relationships between these properties on \(S_{ij}^a\) and the whole category S. We then identify a natural condition on a, called sandwich regularity, under which the set \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\) of all regular elements of \(S_{ij}^a\) is a subsemigroup of \(S_{ij}^a\). Under this condition, we carefully analyse the structure of the semigroup \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\), relating it via pullback products to certain regular subsemigroups of \(S_{ii}\) and \(S_{jj}\), and to a certain regular sandwich monoid defined on a subset of \(S_{ji}\); among other things, this allows us to also describe the idempotent-generated subsemigroup \(\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)\) of \(S_{ij}^a\). We also study combinatorial invariants such as the rank (minimal size of a generating set) of the semigroups \(S_{ij}^a\), \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\) and \(\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)\); we give lower bounds for these ranks, and in the case of \({\text {Reg}}(S_{ij}^a)\) and \(\mathbb E(S_{ij}^a)\) show that the bounds are sharp under a certain condition we call MI-domination. Applications to concrete categories of transformations and partial transformations are given in Part II.     

On the structure of modules of vector-valued modular forms

If \(\rho \) denotes a finite-dimensional complex representation of \(\mathbf {SL}_{2}(\mathbf {Z})\), then it is known that the module \(M(\rho )\) of vector-valued modular forms for \(\rho \) is free and of finite rank over the ring M of scalar modular forms of level one. This paper initiates a general study of the structure of \(M(\rho )\). Among our results are absolute upper and lower bounds, depending only on the dimension of \(\rho \), on the weights of generators for \(M(\rho )\), as well as upper bounds on the multiplicities of weights of generators of \(M(\rho )\). We provide evidence, both computational and theoretical, that a stronger three-term multiplicity bound might hold. An important step in establishing the multiplicity bounds is to show that there exists a free basis for \(M(\rho )\) in which the matrix of the modular derivative operator does not contain any copies of the Eisenstein series \(E_6\) of weight six.     

Relationships Between the 2-Metric Dimension and the 2-Adjacency Dimension in the Lexicographic Product of Graphs

Given a connected simple graph \(G=(V(G),E(G))\), a set \(S\subseteq V(G)\) is said to be a 2-metric generator for G if and only if for any pair of different vertices \(u,v\in V(G)\), there exist at least two vertices \(w_1,w_2\in S\) such that \(d_G(u,w_i)\ne d_G(v,w_i)\), for every \(i\in \{1,2\}\), where \(d_G(x,y)\) is the length of a shortest path between x and y. The minimum cardinality of a 2-metric generator is the 2-metric dimension of G, denoted by \(\dim _2(G)\). The metric \(d_{G,2}: V(G)\times V(G)\longmapsto {\mathbb {N}}\cup \{0\}\) is defined as \(d_{G,2}(x,y)=\min \{d_G(x,y),2\}\). Now, a set \(S\subseteq V(G)\) is a 2-adjacency generator for G, if for every two vertices \(x,y\in V(G)\) there exist at least two vertices \(w_1,w_2\in S\), such that \(d_{G,2}(x,w_i)\ne d_{G,2}(y,w_i)\) for every \(i\in \{1,2\}\). The minimum cardinality of a 2-adjacency generator is the 2-adjacency dimension of G, denoted by \({\mathrm {adim}}_2(G)\). In this article, we obtain closed formulae for the 2-metric dimension of the lexicographic product \(G\circ H\) of two graphs G and H. Specifically, we show that \(\dim _2(G\circ H)=n\cdot {\mathrm {adim}}_2(H)+f(G,H),\) where \(f(G,H)\ge 0\), and determine all the possible values of f(G, H).     

2-Domination number of generalized Petersen graphs

Let \(G=(V,E)\) be a graph. A subset \(S\subseteq V\) is a k-dominating set of G if each vertex in \(V-S\) is adjacent to at least k vertices in S. The k-domination number of G is the cardinality of the smallest k-dominating set of G. In this paper, we shall prove that the 2-domination number of generalized Petersen graphs \(P(5k+1, 2)\) and \(P(5k+2, 2)\), for \(k>0\), is \(4k+2\) and \(4k+3\), respectively. This proves two conjectures due to Cheng (Ph.D. thesis, National Chiao Tung University, 2013). Moreover, we determine the exact 2-domination number of generalized Petersen graphs P(2k, k) and \(P(5k+4,3)\). Furthermore, we give a good lower and upper bounds on the 2-domination number of generalized Petersen graphs \(P(5k+1, 3), P(5k+2,3)\) and \(P(5k+3, 3).\)     

A characterization of the desarguesian and the Figueroa planes of order $$q^{3}$$

Let \(\Pi \) be a plane of order \(q^{3}\), \(q>2\), admitting \(G\cong PGL(3,q)\) as a collineation group. By Dempwolff (Geometriae Dedicata 18:101–112, 1985) the plane \(\Pi \) contains a G-invariant subplane \(\pi _{0}\) isomorphic to PG(2, q) on which G acts 2-transitively. In this paper it is shown that, if the homologies of \(\pi _{0}\) contained in G extend to \(\Pi \) then \(\Pi \) is either the desarguesian or the Figueroa plane.     

On color-preserving automorphisms of Cayley graphs of odd square-free order

An automorphism \(\alpha \) of a Cayley graph \(\mathrm{Cay}(G,S)\) of a group G with connection set S is color-preserving if \(\alpha (g,gs) = (h,hs)\) or \((h,hs^{-1})\) for every edge \((g,gs)\in E(\mathrm{Cay}(G,S))\). If every color-preserving automorphism of \(\mathrm{Cay}(G,S)\) is also affine, then \(\mathrm{Cay}(G,S)\) is a Cayley color automorphism (CCA) graph. If every Cayley graph \(\mathrm{Cay}(G,S)\) is a CCA graph, then G is a CCA group. Hujdurovi? et al. have shown that every non-CCA group G contains a section isomorphic to the non-abelian group \(F_{21}\) of order 21. We first show that there is a unique non-CCA Cayley graph \(\Gamma \) of \(F_{21}\). We then show that if \(\mathrm{Cay}(G,S)\) is a non-CCA graph of a group G of odd square-free order, then \(G = H\times F_{21}\) for some CCA group H, and \(\mathrm{Cay}(G,S) = \mathrm{Cay}(H,T)\mathbin {\square }\Gamma \).     

Semidefinite bounds for nonbinary codes based on quadruples

For nonnegative integers q, n, d, let \(A_q(n,d)\) denote the maximum cardinality of a code of length n over an alphabet [q] with q letters and with minimum distance at least d. We consider the following upper bound on \(A_q(n,d)\). For any k, let \(\mathcal{C}_k\) be the collection of codes of cardinality at most k. Then \(A_q(n,d)\) is at most the maximum value of \(\sum _{v\in [q]^n}x(\{v\})\), where x is a function \(\mathcal{C}_4\rightarrow {\mathbb {R}}_+\) such that \(x(\emptyset )=1\) and \(x(C)=\!0\) if C has minimum distance less than d, and such that the \(\mathcal{C}_2\times \mathcal{C}_2\) matrix \((x(C\cup C'))_{C,C'\in \mathcal{C}_2}\) is positive semidefinite. By the symmetry of the problem, we can apply representation theory to reduce the problem to a semidefinite programming problem with order bounded by a polynomial in n. It yields the new upper bounds \(A_4(6,3)\le 176\), \(A_4(7,3)\le 596\), \(A_4(7,4)\le 155\), \(A_5(7,4)\le 489\), and \(A_5(7,5)\le 87\).     

Some infinite families of Ramsey ($${\varvec{P}}_\mathbf{3},{\varvec{P}}_{{\varvec{n}}}$$)-minimal trees

For any given two graphs G and H, the notation \(F\rightarrow \) (G, H) means that for any red–blue coloring of all the edges of F will create either a red subgraph isomorphic to G or a blue subgraph isomorphic to H. A graph F is a Ramsey (G, H)-minimal graph if \(F\rightarrow \) (G, H) but \(F-e\nrightarrow (G,H)\), for every \(e \in E(F)\). The class of all Ramsey (G, H)-minimal graphs is denoted by \(\mathcal {R}(G,H)\). In this paper, we construct some infinite families of trees belonging to \(\mathcal {R}(P_3,P_n)\), for \(n=8\) and 9. In particular, we give an algorithm to obtain an infinite family of trees belonging to \(\mathcal {R}(P_3,P_n)\), for \(n\ge 10\).     

New lower bounds for the Shannon capacity of odd cycles

The Shannon capacity of a graph G is defined as \(c(G)=\sup _{d\ge 1}(\alpha (G^d))^{\frac{1}{d}},\) where \(\alpha (G)\) is the independence number of G. The Shannon capacity of the cycle \(C_5\) on 5 vertices was determined by Lovász in 1979, but the Shannon capacity of a cycle \(C_p\) for general odd p remains one of the most notorious open problems in information theory. By prescribing stabilizers for the independent sets in \(C_p^d\) and using stochastic search methods, we show that \(\alpha (C_7^5)\ge 350\), \(\alpha (C_{11}^4)\ge 748\), \(\alpha (C_{13}^4)\ge 1534\), and \(\alpha (C_{15}^3)\ge 381\). This leads to improved lower bounds on the Shannon capacity of \(C_7\) and \(C_{15}\): \(c(C_7)\ge 350^{\frac{1}{5}}> 3.2271\) and \(c(C_{15})\ge 381^{\frac{1}{3}}> 7.2495\).     

A group of continuous self-maps on a topological groupoid

The group of bisections of groupoids plays an important role in the study of Lie groupoids. In this paper another construction is introduced. Indeed, for a topological groupoid G, the set of all continuous self-maps f on G such that (x, f(x)) is a composable pair for every \(x\in G\), is denoted by \(S_G\). We show that \(S_G\) by a natural binary operation is a monoid. \(S_G(\alpha )\), the group of units in \(S_G\) precisely consists of those \(f\in S_G\) such that the map \(x\mapsto xf(x)\) is a bijection on G. Similar to the group of bisections, \(S_G(\alpha )\) acts on G from the right and on the space of continuous self-maps on G from the left. It is proved that \(S_G(\alpha )\) with the compact- open topology inherited from C(G, G) is a left topological group. For a compact Hausdorff groupoid G it is proved that the group of bisections of \(G^2\) is isomorphic to the group \(S_G(\alpha )\) and the group of transitive bisections of G, \(Bis_T(G)\), is embedded in \(S_G(\alpha )\), where \(G^2\) is the groupoid of all composable pairs.